Legend of Ragnarok
by Teknomiku
Summary: Separated childhood friends Zaya and Nephilim were assigned to train together through the acolyteswordsman training program. Chronicles their adventures and the people they meet while finding their ultimate place in life.
1. Act 1: Prontera City

_Disclaimer_

This fan fiction is based of characters and personages from the former OblivionRO server. Some of the character names were changed by the author's own preference and the character's personalities are roughly based off how they act on the server, their back stories are purely created by the author. The original characters from the game they were based off belong to their respective owners.  
Some of the events that take place in this story did actually happen on the server during a Role Play event, or were based off the RP events. Everything else is purely of the author's creation.  
Ragnarok Online is copyrighted to Gravity. Wherein, this fan fiction is copyrighted to Teknomiku.

_Foreword_

This fan fiction is dedicated to all of my friends from the Oblivion RO server. You guys were the greatest and it was fun hanging around with you all while it lasted. Even though Yoshi (Ayarane) decided to shut down the server August 31 2005 after running ohRO for around 9 months (6 of which I was there for) you guys will always be a part of me. Maybe someday we'll meet up again.  
If by chance, any of you are reading this now and wonder who is writing this. It would be me, Zaya. I call usually myself Teknomiku across the internet. Anyway, I'd like to thank you all for inspiring my crazy fan fiction mind to produce this.

**Act 1 – Prontera City**

Zaya Amiara stopped in front of the gates to the city. Above the oversized doorway was the heraldic emblem of the king, an impressive double-headed green eagle gilded in gold trim. At the guard post was a bored young man with auburn hair; he barely paid heed when she walked through the entryway. She never has been to Prontera City before despite it being so close to her home town of Izlude.

Zaya touched her belt pouch again, inside was the letter she was instructed to deliver by Cless Alevin, the head swordsmen instructor from Izlude, to the Prontera church. She assumed the letter has to deal with the request to assign acolytes to swordsmen for joint training since she seen the former upper level swordsmen training with them last term.

Past the gates, the street opened up with small buildings lining the cobble stone pathway. A few stray people hurried past her busily caught up in their own agendas. As she continued walking deeper into the city, more and more people started to appear from nowhere and as she paused in the middle of the city center, she looked around her in awe at the hundreds of people packed around her.

Merchants had set up their stands and carts all over the court displaying their goods with a few shouting out to passing people while all sorts of others flitted between them all. Zaya had never seen so many people gathered in one place before, and unlike Izlude, there were hardly any swordsmen and knights she could spot among the masses. She sighed softly before she resumed heading northward through the city center dodging the venders and the other travelers.

She remembered Cless telling her the Prontera Church was in the northeast corner of the city, so she walked around to find the church she looked around at the various buildings as she passed them. There were item shops selling supplies for the traveler as well as weapon shops proudly displaying their collection of swords, daggers and various pieces of armor lining the main court with numerous more smaller shops down the side road. The crowds of people thinned out the further down the road she went until she finally spotted the large silhouette of the church. The front had a large stained glass window of a cross above the doorway and a white crucifix on the top of the steepled roof. A stone sign in front of the building was engraved with the words PRONTERA CHURCH. She stopped a few feet from the entrance and looked the place over.

"So this is it...," she said aloud to herself.

After brushing back her straying locks of platinum-white hair, she stepped up to the slightly oversized doorway and with a firm tug pulled open the door. The interior of the annex was dimly lit by the rays of light filtering through the clearstory windows high above, there were also candles upon wooden holders lining the aisle as well as on a desk near the entryway. It took a few moments for Zaya's eyes to adjust to the church's less luminous lighting before she could spot a figure behind the desk busily doing something with their back to her.

She stepped up to the desk, letter in hand and at the desk she rested her arms against the edge of the desk leaning forward slightly. The young acolyte behind the desk was dressed in a blue tunic like robe that was a paler blue than his short cropped blue hair.

"Excuse me?" Zaya called out, attentively watching as the acolyte put aside the books he was sorting onto the bookcase against the wall.

"How may I—" he said turning around to see who was coming to the church at this time of the day when he stopped mid sentence at who he saw on the other side of the desk.

He stared in disbelief at the familiar girl leaning against the opposite side towards him. Her white hair was shorter then what he remembered and the face and figure of a young adult replaced the girl from his memory but her eyes were still the same. There was no way he could mistake nor forget her bicolored eyes that are half violet and half sky blue.

Zaya looked him over, returning the surprised gaze on his emerald eyes. He did seem familiar to her, but she couldn't understand why especially since this was her first trip to Prontera unless he was from Izlude himself. She blinked a few times confused re-examining his blue hair that partially covered his right eye when it finally came to her. _Could it be him?_ She contemplated staring at him wide-eyed.

"Nephilim!" she gasped, "You became an acolyte!"

He chuckled a little trying to cover up his slight embarrassment, "That's right. And you ended up becoming a swordsman after all, Zaya."

"Ah, yes I did," she quipped smiling, "I didn't expect to see you again after that day your family moved from Izlude."

"Likewise," Nephilim said noticing that his childhood friend hasn't changed much at all.

Then from some room a little farther down the annex a figure emerged dressed in a long black tunic with red cuffs and gold embroidered trim and dark brown slacks. He strode over to them stopping between where they stood, it was immediately apparent by his demeanor of his high authority.

"What are you kids up to?" he said plainly before taking notice of Zaya's different clothing style. "And who may you be?"

Zaya was a bit taken aback by the sudden appearance of the dark haired priest standing by her. "I'm Zaya Amiara. I was sent from the Izlude Swordsmen Association to deliver this letter from Cless Alevin."

He just stood there staring at her for a while before shifting his eyes down to the letter in her hand. "I suppose it would be for me then, since I'm the High Priest of the Prontera Church, Lucius. Let me see this letter Sir Alevin entrusted with you."

Zaya nodded holding out the still unwrinkled envelope out for Lucius. He half interestedly plucked the envelope from her grasp; he glanced at his name written in cursive script on the front before flipping it over to break the seal on the underside. Lucius read over the letter already knowing what message it contained.

"Ah yes…" Lucius said in though, "Now you said your name was Zaya, yes?"

"That's right," Zaya replied.

He nodded, "I see. Nephilim since you and Lady Zaya appear to get along you two are assigned to each other through the swordsman-acolyte training program"

Nephilim glanced over at Zaya shocked before turning back to Lucius. He heard about the program but only the best acolytes of the current group were able to participate and he honestly didn't consider himself part of that group. Most of the time he was assigned to research whatever he was instructed to, clean up the place and sometimes instruct people where to go in the church for whatever they were looking for.

"You're sure?" he said still unbelieving.

Lucius refolded the letter before replying to him. "Yes of course. You two kids go run off and do something in Prontera for a few hours," he said waving them away while turning to leave, "By then I'll have the letter for Lady Zaya and you to return to Sir Alevin."

They both stood there unmoving as Lucius walked back from where he approached from, disappearing behind one of the doors. They stood there for a moment as the realization sunk in. It could be much worse she reasoned to herself, after all Lucius would have no way to know that their relationship went farther back than just this day.

"Well, this was a bit unexpected…" Zaya said aloud.

"Agreed," he replied, mostly recovered from his surprise. "Well I guess I could show you around Prontera, which is much more exciting than organizing these books all day."

She eyed the half-reorganized bookcase again. "Yea. So where to Neph?" she asked walking next to him as they headed out the colossal double doors of the church.


	2. Act 2: The Lonely Merchant

**Act 2 – The Lonely Merchant**

Prontera City despite its much larger size and volume of people reminded Zaya quite a bit of Izlude, her hometown. Nephilim walked her around the major city sites and to the shops busily chatting about stuff. The castle impressed Zaya in it's size and grandeur, prominently situated in the far north in the middle of the city boundaries. More green eagle banners were hung lining the road leading to the castle and at the gates leading in were two guards standing alert yet not threatening either.

"Wow, it's much larger than what I expected the castle for the ruler of the kingdom to have," Zaya gasped as they stood in there presence of it.

Nephilim couldn't help but laugh a little at her reaction. He remembered thinking the same though when he first moved to Prontera and saw the castle.

"Maybe next time we're up here we'll go inside," Nephilim told her.

"Go inside!" she replied wide-eyed. "They let you go inside the castle?"

He nodded, "Yep. Only in the main walkway part though. Since at the other end of the castle leads back into the fields of Prontera."

Zaya clasped her hands together in front of her, as she took one last look at the castle before moving on. Prontera was so large that naturally it would take quite a bit of time to tour the whole city, so Nephilim decided to only show her the western half of Prontera. He showed her the markets, the small buildings people rent rooms from and such, and there was even a local pub they walked by at one point. The Prontera Chivalry Hall where swordsmen became knights in the Northwest corner was the other major stop before they arrived at the castle.

After touring the whole west side of Prontera, they slowly walked back to Prontera Square in the center of the city. The crowds slightly thinned out but still there were a swarm of people in the city center, including the merchants selling items from potions to custom forged weapons to rare items collected from monsters.

"This is Prontera Square," Nephilim announced to her, "You should see this place on the 6th and 7th days of the week, when all o f the warriors decide to hold contests in the streets during the morning and evenings."

"They're allowed to do that?" Zaya gasped turning to him.

"Well, technically no, but no one stops them," he replied.

She giggled a little before saying, "Maybe one day we'll be able to as well."

Nephilim looked her over to assure himself that was indeed serious in making that claim. Not that he ever knew Zaya to joke about something like that, but after all, it has been 10 years and it was always possible she changed some from then. He did not believe he himself changed much, but it is hard to judge on your own.

Now at the southern tip of the city center they paused in front of the few less experienced merchants who managed to get in the prime spot in from the large bronze statue of the god Odin. There to the slight left of the center a lone merchant caught Zaya's eyes. She was kneeling upon the ground next to her sign listing the prices of her goods upon it. Her typical merchant dress was clearly worn for many days straight without being washed and the pale purple trim was wearing out. She felt a little sorry for all of the merchants who spend long hours sitting around cities trying to sell their goods just to make a living. This merchant girl had long wind swept brown hair and light hazel eyes staring off blankly.

"Hey, Zaya," Nephilim said, interrupting her while tapping on her shoulder. "We should head back to the church soon. I'm sure Lucius is done with the list by now."

She glanced back nodding. "First we should get a drink, since we've been walking around for the last hour, and before you try to refuse it's my treat so no backing out," she grinned pulling out a few 100 zeny coins.

He sighed slightly, wondering how she would know he'd try to get out of it. Figuring he had no other choice, he just agreed with her decision. She already knew who to buy the potions from, the merchant just sitting there by herself staring off. Zaya walked over to the girl and stood across from where she was sitting before getting her attention.

"Excuse me," Zaya said to the girl.

It took a moment before the girl realized she was actually being addressed. "Oh. Y, yes? How may I help you?" she replied.

"How much are you selling your yellow potions for?"

The girl hesitated for a moment, calculating how much she spent to obtain them. "They're 350 zeny each," the girl responded.

"Okay then, I'll buy two of them."

The merchant nodded reaching into her cart and pulling out two bottles with the bright yellow liquid in them. She then handed them to the swordswoman with the white hair and the strangest eyes she ever seen.

"That'll be 700 zeny then."

Zaya nodded and dropped the coins into the girl's hand. The merchant girl bowed her head and as she was ready to deposit the coins into her coin pouch, she panicked when she noticed it was not there. She quickly spun around to the side her pouch was on to catch a glimpse of a purple and beige clad thief running off with her money.

"HEY! Come back here, thief!" she screamed at the figure retreating away while jumping to her feet.

Only a few of the people in the dying down crowd looked to see what this girl was yelling about, the rest either ignored or didn't hear her calling out. Zaya and Nephilim looked to see what was wrong with the merchant girl. She did notice the girl was accusing the fleeing purple thief of stealing her coin pouch, which Zaya did briefly remember noticing it tied around the girl's side earlier.

"Just stay here," Zaya instructed to the brown-haired girl before bolting after the thief.

"O, oy! Zaya!" Nephilim shouted as his friend pushed through the crowd.

He sighed heavily before opting to chase after her. Some things never change he thought to himself trying his best to keep sight of her sky blue skirt as he navigated the crowd. He remembered all the time trying to keep up with Zaya when they were younger, since she would just run ahead without any warning. At the destination, she'd be standing there waiting for him, giggling at how he would be all flushed from running.

Zaya kept her sight locked on the fleeing thief, as she pushed her way through the crowd. At one point, the thief girl looked back worried yet surprised she was being followed. She had long purple hair done back in a twist braid with a white flu mask over her face. Eventually the girl realized running wasn't going to work and turned the corner into a side street to hide. Zaya followed but stopped at the opening to the street confused the thief girl wasn't anywhere in sight.

It didn't make sense since there were no obvious hiding spots and no way, she could have escaped that far ahead. As she stood there looking around, while catching her breath Nephilim finally caught up to her. He was even more winded and had to wait until he could manage to utter anything.

"W, where's the thief?" he panted, barely able to hear himself over his racing heart.

Zaya shook her head. "I don't know," she sighed, "She vanished somewhere in this walkway."

He paused and though for a moment. He knew thieves were experts at stealing and avoiding attacks but the one skill they use is the ability to hide. Back in basic acolyte training, he remembered the priest instructors telling the class about the hide skill since there was a skill that acolytes possess that can reveal them.

"Well, if she's hiding down here then I might be able to unhide her," he explained. "Ruwach!"

A pale blue glowing orb that looked almost like fire materialized from thin air. It did a full circle around Nephilim before rushing off down the street and vanishing a few feet away. As the orb passed by a spot near the wall not to far from them, the thief girl suddenly reappeared. She blinked a few times confused before realizing she's been discovered.

"Shit," she muttered.

As she tried to take off again she was intercepted by Zaya before she could get far and pinned against the wall. The thief struggled for a bit before realizing she wasn't going to be able to escape the grip of the swordswoman and just gave up. She sighed dismayed knowing she failed in successfully stealing how thieves should be able to.

"Hey now, I know you're a thief but you're supposed to steal from monsters not other people!" Zaya harshly said. "Now where's the money you stole from that merchant?"

The girl sighed again, turning her eyes down to the ground. She knew she wasn't technically supposed to steal from others with her thief skills, but she wasn't having much luck lately with acquiring rare items from monsters to sell. After letting it sink in for a bit, Zaya let go of the girl's hands and she reached into her hip sack and retrieved the coin pouch she stolen. She handed it over to her before running off, not looking back at them until she vanished into the crowds.

Zaya and Nephilim walked back to where they left the merchant girl. She looked distraught despite being consoled by a female alchemist and a male blacksmith who were around her. The girl looked up when she noticed the boots of the swordswoman who ran off was standing in front of her.

"Did you get it back?" she said hopefully.

Zaya nodded, "Here, you go."

She then deposited the coin back in the merchant's hand. She grasped it tightly against her chest and sighed a little relieved. Then she bowed deeply, still holding her bag close to her.

"Thank you so much," she replied.


End file.
